JULY,A RECORD MONTH FOR GM.....EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT TO CONTINUE!

DETROIT - General Motors dealers in the U.S. sold 530,027 new cars and trucks in July, up 20 percent compared to year-ago sales and GM's best July sales since 1979. Truck deliveries (360,655) increased 34.5 percent, establishing a new record for July and posting the second-best-ever sales month, outpaced only by June 2005 industry-record truck deliveries. Deliveries of sport utility vehicles established an all-time industry sales record, with a 22 percent increase over year-ago levels.
Car sales (169,372) declined 3 percent, due to significantly reduced fleet sales. Retail car sales were up over 9 percent, led by strong retail sales of new vehicles, including Cadillac STS, Chevrolet Cobalt, Pontiac G6 and Buick LaCrosse. Every GM division posted sales increases for the month.
"Over one million Americans drove off in a new GM car or truck in the past two months," said Mark LaNeve, GM vice president, North America Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing. "It's proof that an excellent vehicle, offered at an easily understood, fair price is compelling to consumers. Sales results for June and July demonstrate that once they experience our products, more and more Americans come to appreciate the high quality, tremendous value and benefits of owning a GM car or truck."
GM continued its truck sales leadership, led by an all-time sales record for utilities and the continuing surge of full-size pickup sales. Deliveries of Chevrolet full-size pickups (Silverado and Avalanche) increased 52 percent. Chevrolet Silverado (up 55 percent) and GMC Sierra (up 64 percent) each achieved second-best-ever sales months, surpassed only by June 2005 sales. Record sport utility sales were led by a 16 percent increase in large utility deliveries and small utility sales (Chevrolet Equinox and Saturn Vue), which improved 105 percent.
Retail car sales continue to gain momentum, paced by ongoing strong sales performance of several new vehicles. Total sales of GM's entry level cars were up 19 percent, with Chevrolet Cobalt achieving its best-ever sales. Luxury car sales rose 6 percent compared to year-ago levels, with sales increases by Cadillac CTS (up 25 percent) and XLR (up 37 percent), Chevrolet SSR (up 43 percent), Saab 9-2X and 9-3 (54 percent). Cadillac STS had its best sales since launch, beating the previous high mark set last month.
Cadillac sales were up 10 percent. A significant reduction in fleet sales was offset by strong retail sales, which were up 30 percent. Total car deliveries were up 11 percent, paced by record STS and CTS deliveries. CTS has set sales records in five of the last seven months. Escalade ESV and EXT both posted sales improvements in July. ESV was up 35 percent and EXT sales increased 16 percent.
Chevrolet posted its strongest July since 1978 as sales increased 18 percent, led by record truck sales, which were up 35 percent. This was the first time since March 1979 that Chevrolet posted consecutive months with more than 300,000 sales. In the full-size truck segment, Silverado was up 55 percent and Avalanche sales improved 28 percent. Among Chevrolet's newest trucks, Colorado continued its strong sales results, with a 34 percent increase, and Equinox had its best-ever sales with nearly twice the number of deliveries achieved last year. Aveo sales were up 57 percent.
GMC sales set a new July record, up 33 percent compared to record sales last year. GMC has strong sales across its portfolio, with gains by Sierra (up 64 percent), Canyon (up 68 percent), Yukon (up 28 percent) and Envoy (up 7 percent).
Pontiac deliveries in July were up 9 percent, led by solid sales of the G6 and Vibe. Vibe set an all-time sales record, with deliveries up 36 percent.
Buick also posted strong sales in July, up 20 percent. LaCrosse sales were 79 percent higher than year-ago combined Century and Regal deliveries. LaCrosse has set month-over-month sales increases for seven of eight months since its launch.
The all-new HUMMER H3 continued its strong start with 4,664 sales in July, a 21 percent increase over June sales. This is noteworthy given that the H3 was not included in the GM Employee Discount for Everyone program. HUMMER easily surpassed its best-ever July sales with 7,476 deliveries, a 210 percent improvement compared to last year. H2 deliveries were 16 percent higher than year-ago levels.
Saturn had its best July since 2003, with sales improving 11 percent. Vue set a new July sales record with deliveries up 39.5 percent.
Saab had record July sales, with deliveries improving 94 percent and falling less than 200 units short of its best-ever sales results. 9-3 deliveries improved 54 percent, and 9-2X achieved its second-best sales month. Production of the 9-7X continues to ramp-up with 685 deliveries recorded in July.
GM also announced the continuation of its GM Employee Discount for Everyone program. The program will run through September 6, 2005. It includes all available 2005 Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, HUMMER and Pontiac-GMC cars and light-duty trucks except for Chevrolet Corvette, HUMMER H1 and Pontiac GTO.
"GM's Employee Discount program will continue as a 2005 model clearance program," LaNeve said. "It is simply the most consistent transition to our Total Value Promise and is consistent with our desire to offer simple and compelling prices for all our products. The fact that our Employee Discount program was so widely copied by our competition, and even by other industries, is testimony to its effectiveness."
Certified Used Vehicles
July sales for all certified GM brands, including GM Certified Used Vehicles, Cadillac Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, Used Cars from Saturn and Saab Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles, established a new monthly sales record for the certified category with sales of 50,366 units, up 8 percent from last July. This marks the first time any manufacturer has surpassed 50,000 certified used sales in a month. Total year-to-date certified GM sales are 309,719 units, up 1 percent from the same period last year.